World Cup players are wearing devices around their necks to prevent brain injuries. Here's how they're supposed to work.

• Recent studies have suggested that heading the ball in soccer games could lead to cognitive decline.
• Some World Cup players have turned to a neck apparatus called Q-Collar as a protective measure.
• The FDA-cleared device uses blood as a cushion to limit brain movement within the skull.

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The 2023 Women's World Cup is officially underway.

Superstars from across the globe have descended upon Australia and New Zealand in pursuit of soccer's ultimate prize. But just days before the sport's most prestigious tournament kicked off, a study reinforced the potential dangers of soccer.

The study, published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, evaluated the cognitive impairment of more than 450 retired professional men's soccer players in the UK and how often they headed the ball during their playing careers. The researchers found that "the risk of cognitive impairment increased with the cumulative heading frequency," supporting other studies suggesting that heading the ball could lead to brain injuries.

While this week's JAMA study focused solely on male athletes, past research indicated that female soccer players are considerably more likely to experience concussions and other brain injuries than their male counterparts. Why women are more susceptible is unclear, but the BBC reported that prevailing theories included women having less muscular necks, brains with faster metabolisms, and varying hormones depending on the menstrual-cycle phase.

The evidence that female athletes are at higher risk of concussion is indisputable. But with a historic $110 million prize pool and immeasurable pride on the line Down Under, those competing at the World Cup are still expected to head the ball without hesitation.

That's where the Q-Collar — a horseshoe-shaped piece of silicone designed to protect the brain from the inside — may come into play.

David Smith, a former internist who invented the Q-Collar, told News On 6 that the device offered "mild compression against the jugular veins, which causes a very small backfilling into the cranial space." He said the idea was for the build-up of blood to act as a cushion and thereby preventing the excessive brain movement within the skull that could cause brain injuries.

Quinn, a Canadian midfielder who's competed in two World Cups and two Olympics, sported a Q-Collar during the team's opening game of the 2023 World Cup. Rocky Rodríguez, a Costa Rican star, regularly wears one on the pitch, too.

And they're not the only professional athletes turning to the device for protection; dozens of football and lacrosse players at collegiate and professional levels are also wearing them, The New York Times reported.

In 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration cleared the Q-Collar for sale as a medical device and announced that research studies on the Q-Collar "appear to indicate protection of the brain associated with device use." While there's some debate among researchers regarding the methodology used in studies supporting the efficacy of the Q-Collar, the FDA also found that "no significant adverse events were associated with device use."

In other words, athletes like Quinn and Rodríguez seem to have little to lose — and a lot to potentially gain — by strapping the Q-Collar around their necks. But whether more soccer stars choose to join them over the course of the World Cup remains to be seen.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the value of the prize pool for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. It's $110 million, not $110.